Tag: jane pugh

Continually learning…

Occasionally I’m lucky enough to have the time to dive into a quick little writing refresher course. Not only are these a great opportunity to find out how different writers approach writing, but you inevitably pick up a few tricks or techniques from each individual giving the course, and often from your fellow attendees.

Since I completed my MA, I’ve had the privilege of attending courses by Wyl Menmuir and Francesco Dimitri for Novel Writing  – because I love the way they both write. Jane Pugh for playwriting, and John Yorke (twice) for scriptwriting – because he is the king of structure especially if you are writing for TV.

My latest course is with independent publisher Indie Novella, overseen by author Damien Mosley (The Bookseller Rising Star 2023) and Literary Agent Laetitia Rutherford from Watson Little. And I’m using the course as I’ve done in the past to flush out an idea that may or may not turn out to be a novel or film. In this case, I’m working on a crime drama called The Lost Van Gogh, which is a bit like a heist movie, but so much more. Anyway, taking part in the course has freed me up to go to town with my protagonist – for which I was rewarded with some fab feedback from Indie Novella Editor Gina Adams

Your character has a unique way of expressing herself, with a very distinct style to the way you have written her, Sam. We get an immediate sense of what she is like, and also how she is likely to appear to other people. I really like the idea that your character identifies the waitress as odd, whilst she has a reaction verging on sexual to the food she has been given! We can really imagine the dynamic between the character and the waitress here as if we are sitting at a table nearby watching it unfold…

I’m not sure I meant to divulge my love of food so blatantly, but reading it back I can see how – delicately teased with whipped ricotta, burnt butter, and smoked almonds – which was gorgeous enough to successfully soothe my broken ego – could be read as slightly erotic, whoops!

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Minack theatre – chance of a lifetime

The beginning of June marked the end of a fantastic course ‘Writing for Stage’ with the amazingly talented Jane Pugh – supported by director and performer John Brolly.

This amazing course hosted by The Writers Block at Cornwall College was aimed at new writers, as well as those who had already written plays. So I was among talented company! Although a screenwriter myself and annual reader for the Nick Darke Award, I have never tackled writing a play. So I was intrigued by the difference between writing for the two disciplines.

The course looked at the creativity and craft of writing for the stage and explored theme, story, characters, dialogue, setting and staging.  Each week was a mini-workshop with a group discussion. And when our plays had been suitably developed we gave each other invaluable feedback before we shared our final pieces at The Minack Theatre.

The event on June 8th was amazing. Despite the lousy weather for a few days before, the day was stunning and offered far-reaching views of the Atlantic ocean. With a cluster of friends and relatives for support, we congregated in one of the practice rooms in the bowels of the theatre, eager to hear each other’s play excerpts.

Jane had guided us perfectly to realising our potential and developing a collection of diverse stories. All the plays were very different with amazing characters and flowing believable dialogue. And we were all very grateful for her dedicated input and enthusiasm throughout the eight weeks.

Please click on the MP4 below if you would like to watch the read-through of my play ‘Dealing with it’.

 

 

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